1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a printing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus, which is capable of reducing power consumption and improving reliability, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus, such as a printer, a multifunction copier or the like, performs a printing operation by forming an image on a print medium based on printing data. Typically, the printing apparatus has a device unit to perform a printing operation and a controller to control the device unit. The controller may be implemented by a CPU through executing computer programs required to perform the printing operation. The printing apparatus also has a power supply unit, such as an SMPS (switched mode power supply), to supply the device unit and the controller with the power required for them to operate.
The printing apparatus may enter a mode when power to the device unit is interrupted in order to reduce power consumption while printing operations are not performed (hereinafter referred to as “standby mode”). Even in the standby mode, the CPU and the power supply always operate and consume power in order to monitor conditions of the printing apparatus and to control the supply of power to the device unit so that the printing apparatus can enter the standby mode to save power or exit the standby mode to print.
Demand for a higher quality of printing has led to the use of high performance CPUs. These high performance CPUs consume a large amount of power to operate. There are many cases when the CPU and the power supply consume more than several watts in the standby mode, not to mention the normal mode when the printing apparatus performs printing operations. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the power consumption of a printing apparatus in the standby mode when printing operations are not performed.